Kurt Hadeler called the meeting to order at 9:44 am. He asked the Executive Board if they are agreeable to changing the order of the agenda slightly so delivery could be discussed last and they agreed. We know how bad things are and he would like the discussion not to turn into a gripe session, but to come up with solutions and a plan of attack to make things better.

1. Minutes of the Meeting on November 8, 2017

It was MOVED BY: Laura Rifkin Seconded by: Matthew Latham

To approve the minutes.

All in favor.

Motion carried.

2. Public Portion

Kurt Hadeler asked that going forward, members of the public save their questions and comments for the Public Portion and Membership Hearing rather than speaking throughout the meeting so it more closely follows parliamentary procedure. Terrie McColl opined that Directors are not considered members of the public. Patricia Durso, who is not a Director, indicated that she is a member of the public and expressed her disappointment that no one from LibraryLinkNJ accepted Kurt Hadeler's invitation to attend this meeting. Ellen O'Keefe asked for an update on the Rochelle Park Library and Cindy Czesak advised that will be included in her Executive Director's Report.

3. Treasurer's Report

Samantha McCoy presented the December 2017 P & L Reports.

December 2017

Of the 2017 Budget of $3,391,100

$3,370,754 has been received as of December 31, 2017

Leaving a balance of $20,346

Total expenses $3,677,760

Leaving a balance of ($286,660)

As of October 31, 2017, the account balances were:

Checking $194,897

NJ Cash Management $470,436

Scholarship $36,082

She also provided a narrative. Cindy Czesak met with the Spire Group and is cleaning up the chart of accounts. She is also researching new banks based on services, fees and location. The next Executive Director will handle the RFP for a new auditor. In addition, Samantha McCoy explained that the surplus emergency funds in the budget will be moved into a capital account via a resolution, the audit is scheduled for this month and the April Hoopla invoice was received late and paid in December. There were a few questions and comments: a suggestion was made to ask Directors for bank recommendations and Samantha McCoy will send a survey to them. There was a question about Subscription Collection Fees being over budget and Cindy Czesak will review that with the person who manages the foreign language purchases. The line item for Net Reimbursement is off because of timing issues (reimbursement for net lending for the second half of 2016 was paid in January 2017). The funds in the NJ Cash Management-Reserve account are not surplus funds; these funds are transferred from the operating account to this account to stay below the $250,000 threshold. When the contingency fund is replenished, where will it be reflected in the budget? This will be discussed with the Spire Group.

It was MOVED BY: Jennifer Breuer Seconded by: Christine Hartigan

To accept the Treasurer's Report.

All in favor.

Motion carried.

4. Correspondence

a)Letter to Bergen County Executive – 2018 Grant Request

b)E-mail to LibraryLinkNJ - Delivery

c)E-mail to LibraryLinkNJ Executive Board - Delivery

d)E-mail from J. Breuer - LibraryLinkNJ Executive Board Meeting

A lengthy discussion followed about various delivery-related items: LLNJ did not communicate the problems with Expak to us in a timely manner; do we turn off hold requests again: how do we handle delivery and how do we get our materials back? As of this time, there are over 82,000 items owned by BCCLS that are in transit. The discussion also covered: the money that the state provides to pay for statewide delivery to all libraries; what is our recourse for Expak's failure to perform; the service provided is worse than no service at all; should we activate our internal delivery hubs and what are the related liability issues; what about finding another delivery company to service BCCLS libraries; item-specific holds; utilizing “visiting collections” to still allow materials to circulate to patrons of libraries where the borrowed items are stranded; where will libraries store materials to be sent to other libraries while waiting for Expak to fix their problems; some libraries have had minimal or no pick-ups or deliveries during the last week and bins and boxes are piling up; should we send a letter to Mary Chute at the State Library; should we stop sending materials via delivery? If we do Expak's job and relieve the burden for them, what is their incentive to fix things? It was noted that 25 members of LibraryLinkNJ can call for a special in-person meeting; Kurt Hadeler will use the sign-in sheet for today's meeting to formally make this request; there were no objections. It was requested that a summary of the actions to be taken be sent to the membership. Cindy Czesak will provide this. The BCCLS office has the authority to determine when holds can be enabled again.

It was MOVED BY: Christine Hartigan Seconded by: Gerry McMahon

To temporarily disable holds. A discussion followed about determining a benchmark or timeline when to resume holds. The motion was amended to include that the situation will be re-evaluated after 2 weeks; the BCCLS office will place a PR statement on the website and catalog, and Kurt Hadeler and Cindy Czesak will draft a formal statement to patrons about what is going on, our communications with LLNJ and that we are monitoring the situation.

All in favor.

Motion carried.

It was MOVED BY: Jennifer Breuer Seconded by: Gerry McMahon

To temporarily suspend the holds queue.

All in favor.

Motion carried.

5. President's Report

Kurt Hadeler's report was previously distributed to the board members. Kurt Hadeler welcomed Laurence Bergmann, Trustee from Livingston and 2017 BCCLS Executive Board member, and Judy Nelson, Trustee from Roseland, attending the meeting as guests. He also suggested that trustees on the Executive Board consider establishing a separate e-mail address so that BCCLS Executive Board business is not comingled with their business or personal e-mail accounts since that information could be discoverable under the Freedom of Information Act. He advised that the BCCLS Computer Consortium has been closed out, the new chart of accounts has been delayed due to the delivery issues, the Executive Director search firm has received 8 applications so far; the deadline is February 11, 2018 and most applications are received right before the deadline. There were no questions from the membership about his report.

6. Executive Director's Report

The report of Cindy Czesak, Interim Executive Director, was also previously distributed to the board members. She has met with Bob Davidson, Borough Administrator of Rochelle Park, and Jennifer Cullen, Interim Director of Rochelle Park Library, and has spoken with Sandy Ross, President of the new Board of Trustees. The town passed the municipal ordinance to create a municipal library, the board was appointed and sworn in. She was asked to attend their first board meeting on January 31, 2018 and is working on a cost estimate for them to rejoin BCCLS. She also mentioned the new format of Want Ads on the BCCLS website; BCCLS positions are listed first, followed by non-BCCLS positions and thanked Gerry McMahon for the suggestion. There were no questions from the membership about her report.

7. Committee Reports

a)eBCCLS Committee - Kathleen McGrail, co-chair,provided an oral report. She thanked Cindy Czesak, Mike Grgurev, Eric Lozauskas and the dedicated members of the committee who met with 2 eContent service vendors this week. The contract with Cloud Library expires on June 1, 2018. The goal is for libraries to be able to purchase and share content with the membership while maintaining priority status for their patrons on their items. They would like to mirror the way BCCLS works with its physical collections. Once they receive terms from the vendors, they will make a recommendation to the Executive Board in February and to System Council in March. Cindy Czesak gave a big shout out to Kathleen McGrail and Samantha McCoy, co-chairs, for their hard work and negotiating efforts.

b)Friends of the Library Committee – Event Evaluation

c)Professional Development Committee – Event Evaluation

d)Trustee Development Committee – Event Evaluation

e)Youth Services Committee – Event Evaluation

8. Old Business

None

9. New Business

a)By-Laws Committee – Recommended Changes

Gerry McMahon, Chair, reviewed the recommended changes to the by-laws: Article I: Organization & Membership - Qualifications for Membership and Obligations of Membership; Article II: Governance - System Council and Executive Board; Article IV: The BCCLS Computer Consortium; Article VII - Policies and Article VIII: Meetings. A discussion followed concerning Board of Trustee approval for membership, proxy votes and duties of the Executive Board. Going forward, Gerry McMahon asked if there are any questions about by-laws, please call her to discuss prior to the meeting. Kurt Hadeler reminded everyone that applies to all committees.

It was MOVED BY: Gerry McMahon Seconded by: Christine Hartigan to accept the proposed changes pending legal review, then bring them back to the Executive Board in February and to System Council in March. All in favor. Motion carried.

b)Cisco Umbrella

Eric Lozauskas explained that the ongoing threat of phishing, spear phishing and ransomware/crypto viruses is a serious concern. In addition to providing virus training, he was able to negotiate a special rate of $14,400 per year ($177 per 81 library circuits or $11 per PC on service contracts) for DNS protection which will protect the staff and public computers in all of the libraries. The software will prevent malicious links from connecting even if users unknowingly click on them and prevent crypto viruses from “running” and encrypting files for ransom. The board agreed that this is a necessary product, but is concerned where the money will come from in the budget and would like to revisit this after the delivery matter is resolved.